Grooveshark to Launch New Online Radio App

Internet music service Grooveshark plans to launch digital radio service in January that will cost 99 cents per month with no commercials.

Grooveshark calls the new app its first that is “compliant,” Dow Jones reports.

That’s a reference to the fact that the eight-year-old company has spent years fighting with record labels because the company didn’t obtain licenses for music it offered free to its listeners, according to the account.

Using the new service, to be called “Broadcasts,” listeners can text chat with each other via the app while accessing radio stations they create. The new service will be offered as a separate app from its $9/per month unlimited service, according to the account. Grooveshark Chief Executive Sam Tarantino tells Dow Jones the company is trying to obtain licenses from major record labels for the company’s unlimited service.

Grooveshark claims to have about 30 million users, while Pandora has nearly 80 million.